Vermeil touts Jon Gruden to Philly

Posted by Mike Florio on January 9, 2013, 9:53 AM EDT

AP

Former Eagles, Rams, and Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil reportedly had a role in bringing former Eagles coach Andy Reid to Kansas City. Now, Vermeil is trying to help replace Reid in Philly with another former NFL head coach.

“My choice would be Jon Gruden,” Vermeil told Anthony Gargano and Glen Macnow of WIP radio, via Philly.com. “I just think he’s a helluva of football coach, and I don’t want him to make the mistake I made, to wait too long to go back. I just think he’s a helluva football coach and a great personality.”

Vermeil suggested action much stronger than the Eagles making a request that Gruden interview for the job.

“I’d do more than ask,” Vermeil said. “You know what I’d do? I’d get in a bus and take the bank with me.”

Vermeil is the second former Eagles employee to aggressively lobby for Gruden. Previously, former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski said that Gruden would be interested in the job, but that the Eagles had not yet contacted Gruden.

It’s unclear whether Gruden is playing any behind-the-scenes role in these public efforts to place him in Philly. But it’s believed that he’s ready to listen to NFL opportunities. And it’s apparent that, for now, no NFL opportunities are coming.

From a purely selfish perspective I hope he gets no job offers. He is one of the only people left at ESPN that actually understands the game and he provides excellent information as the color analyst. My favorite NFL announcer/analyst.

Is there a reason why Gruden cant speak for himself? I dont trust a guy that needs others to campaign for him. If he wants the job then contact the Eagles for an interview. If they decline then you move on with your life. Gruden is old enough to have this figured out right?

I am a huge fan of Jon Gruden as probably the best color guy to ever grace the booth. The dude knows football and unlike the ringless Collinsworth does not talk trash about the active players but rather has true admiration for the guys out there selling out every play. As a coach I am not a fan of Jon. He had above and beyond the most talented roster in the AFC and could never get into the Super Bowl. He lucked out and got there with Tony Dungy’s team and beat a team he knew inside and out. Jon also told Chris Simms he was going to help him take over the league. In Philly we need to develop a young quarterback with tremendous upside but very raw abilities. I do not think Jon can develop a qb because if he had another 4 inches he would have been a Hall of Fame quarterback and it is tough to live up to his expectations at quarterback. If Gruden is our next coach i will welcome him with open, cautious arms, as he has not won a play off game since the super bowl win. Sorry Dick but the dream team in Philly is Arians as our HC and making just as much as any other HC Lovie running the defense as unfortunatley he is the coordinator type and not the HC type.

Gruden made it to the playoffs with Chris Simms at QB (and probably should have beaten the Skins that year after a very vague “keep control through the catch in the end zone” play at the end of the game). People say he took Dungy’s team to the SuperBowl, which is true except Dungy couldn’t get over the hump until he had Peyton Manning, AND he faced his FORMER TEAM IN THE SUPERBOWL. The guy is a good coach, but terrible with popularity contests. Bucs also spent lowest in NFL for years after Superbowl win. I wish him well.

Grudens a great 3 year plan.
If Lurie and Roseman feel they have the pieces to make that jump in 3 years,, then bring in Gruden.

Truthfully, i believe that Gus from Seattle would be the best option we could hope for here.
He has the fire of defensive coordinator. Every year he had that defense they got better. There is no doubt the defense is the reason Seattle is in the hunt still.

I would even take Gus,, take solid personell decisions and give him a prolific young OC that would handle that side of the ball.

Don’t really want him. He lost his team in TB after 3 years because of he constantly talked out of both sides of his mouth.
He is VERY hard on QB’s and doesn’t like to develop young ones. Look at the constant changes he made in TB at the position.

All that said, he’d still be better than Reid.

Also if Gruden is going to be in the mix, why not Brian Billick. He got the most out of Randall Cunningham and Trent Dilfer.

I liked Gruden when he coached the Raiders. I know he won a SB with the BUCs, but I think he pissed off a lot of players and wore out his welcome. I don’t know if he can re-capture the magic if the Eagles hire him, but I agree with aaronmushrush. Why don’t the Eagles just hire Bruce Arians. He knows how to develop OBS and look what he did this year for the Colts filling in as HC. Crazy that no one already hired him. Go to whatever hospital he’s in and have him sign a contract.

Respect Jaworski (I wonder why he hasn’t sought to become coach) for his football knowledge.

However, Gruden, Jon, and Gruden, Jay would both be bad moves, and further, the Eagles already know that. The Eagles are a reclamation project that will need at least two years to rebuild. Neither Gruden has a history with developing young talent. Further, Jon Gruden’s personality would actually NOT play well in Philadelphia because, frankly, Philadelphia fans see through the shiny veneer of folks – players, coaches and “front office”.

There aren’t a lot of great options out there right now. Unless they can settle on a coach with experience — NFL experience, ideally — as a HC or significant coordinator experience — I would go with Lovie Smith, Jim Haslett or Bruce Arians. Two days ago, I was pro Arians (I did attend Temple), but upon some thinking feel that Smith is probably the best option left out there and I’d like top prevent him from going to Dallas. Haslett was a favourite for the Eagles job when they hired Reid, actually, and he has done fine work in his career. Arians, because of age, likely, and that he has not been a HC at the NFL level, is probably not a perfect fit.

The real issue is that the Eagles really need to hire a true football GM, not to retain the numbers guy that has that title. That is very likely the real reason why significant, experienced coaches have not pursued the Philadelphia job, and the Eagles need to get real about that.

Vermeil’s comments were likely just his way of backing up his former QB.

This is not happening. ESPN has cleared out the booth to make Gruden the star and payed him a buttload of money. He will back in the booth again this year and nowhere near the sidelines. The guy works one day a week making almost the same money he would coaching. Chucky stays right where he is

Maybe Gruden is conflicted about returning to the grind of coaching in the NFL when he has a pretty sweet gig going for him. The worst thing a team can do is hire a guy who isn’t 100% committed to the task.

Jon Gruden had mentioned in the past as well that he would love to coach the Eagles and I think he was waiting and hoping for a job like this – and then to not get a sniff probably made him panic a bit. I’m not sure if he’d be a good fit or not, but he’d certainly be entertaining!

Well, Washington Redskins will be in the basement next year without RG3 and the Giants have shot their load and Dallas sucks. So the Eagles should hire Jon Grudon cause he can turn them around in a short period of time. Yes, the Eagles can go from worst to first.

There’s has to be something that we don’t know. If no team has even offered a interview to the man. The only thing I could think of is that there was something in they was he’s handled himself in the past that’s turned teams off. Because; I would have bet my house that he would have gotten one of those jobs. That being said, by me being a Saints fan I got to see his teams up close. And, to be honest with you I didn’t come away the impressed. It may be that it wasn’t the best fit in Tampa.

What is with the love for Gruden all of a sudden? He built a solid team in Oakland – 12 years ago. After winning the SB with Dungy’s team (no one can argue that he did a good job that year, but no one can argue that he was the architect of that SB team, either), he went 45-51 over his last six seasons. Six years is a pretty large sample size, and a more than generous opportunity to stake your claim as a high quality NFL coach. Gruden had a .469 winning percentage in that span. Maybe if he had gone back to OC and honed his skills, but he’s now been out of the game for five years. No thanks.

I think Gruden would be a perfect fit for the Eagle’s fans and media – he’s energetic, personable and outspoken, traits that clearly were not evident with Big Red. But, just because he won the Super Bowl with the Bucs against his former team (although he severely out-coached Reid in the Championship game) doesn’t make him the best HC choice. I always remember Vermeil saying that you should never let the fans pick your QB…but, hey, we still love you, Dick!

As long as he isn’t given too much power over personnel management he will be a great coach. I always thought Gruden was a great game day coach. I also look around the league and see that coaching itself is a full time gig. Adding player management takes away from time needed to coach. Get Gruden a good GM he can work with and he will be a great asset to any team